NATIVE ARTS AND CULTURES FOUNDATION

STRATEGIC PLAN2021 - 2025

Canoe photograph in cover art: “Canoe Journey, Puyallup,” Jon Carroll of Children of the Setting Sun Productions (@childrenssp), 2018.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................1

MISSION STATEMENT .................................................................................2

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................3

WAKANIM JOURNEY ...................................................................................5

FOCUS .........................................................................................................6

PRIORITIES .................................................................................................7

PRIORITY 1 ..............................................................................................8

PRIORITY 2 ..............................................................................................9

PRIORITY 3 ............................................................................................10

PRIORITY 4 ............................................................................................11

EVALUATION ..............................................................................................12

GEOGRAPHIC REACH .................................................................................15

OUTCOMES ................................................................................................16

ASSETS & RESOURCES .............................................................................17

ORGANIZATION .........................................................................................18

GLOSSARY ................................................................................................19

APPENDIX .................................................................................................21

“What we choose to address in our organizations and communities NOW has the ability to create a truly equitable future that can help shape the 21st century. What we decide, act upon, and do in the next few years will help us strengthen the Native arts ecosystem locally and nationally.”

T. Lulani Arquette (Native Hawaiian)NACF President/CEO

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INTRODUCTION

We are at one of the most defining times in our history as human beings and in the Native arts and cultures field.

As Native peoples, we need to significantly advance our worldviews and address our invisibility in this country. We need to extend our creativity and cultural knowledge in shaping our destinies. We have the strength, values, and expertise among our artists and communities; at NACF, we intend to continue mobilizing new possibilities in greater ways.

In that spirit, the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation (NACF) has spent some time discussing our future over the next five years, and our place in the Indigenous peoples’ ecosystem. We have not wavered from our belief that arts and creativity are a powerful force for education and social change. After ten years of NACF support for artists and organizations, we’ve seen artists empowered in their careers and how it benefits and energizes communities. Transformational change requires a spark, and NACF’s efforts, as outlined in this Strategic Plan, will support efforts to both catalyze positive change and protect those traditions and practices that need to be preserved.

Our efforts as Indigenous peoples certainly require a truth-telling about our histories and what has brought us to where we are now, for example, the intrinsic damage rooted in the Doctrine of Discovery. Prolonged challenges like pandemic, climate change, and racial inequities in our country need persistent energy, rigor, and solutions.

Native artists, community leaders, and tribes have vast knowledge to share. NACF will be evolving its scope to create the Center for Native Arts and Cultures, a gathering place for cultural production and presentation of Native work. We continue to believe in the creative value of arts practice and cultural knowledge to civic society and expanding its potential through advocacy, education, and multi-sector work.

What are our individual and collective strengths, and how do we center our culture and arts in this positive space while at the same time addressing significant challenges? How can we reimagine and activate a better NOW together? Our new Strategic Plan outlines a bold vision for the future, helping artists, culture bearers, and partners strive towards creative approaches to these questions as we evolve into an active community organization presenting Native work and engaging all Americans with Native arts and cultures.

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MISSION STATEMENTmission

valuescourage: We owe it to future generations to break through all barriers that limit our potential and forge new frontiers with a courageous spirit.

generosity: Supporting those who genuinely express a part of themselves through the arts and expand deeper appreciation for Native cultures is at the core of our work.

creativity: Trusting our intuition and connection to the Creator helps us bring forth our fullest imagination, inspiration and effort. We strive to always be in the process of creation, for this is where our greatest achievements happen.

respect: We encourage an environment of respect for difference, the humanity of others, and diverse arts and cultures, and we nurture all life forms while in the course of our daily lives and working with others.

commitment: We are committed to the long journey, seeing beyond what we need right now and following through with patience, perseverance and passion. Our collective responsibility is to honor the wisdom and knowledge of seven generations back and the evolvement and enlightenment of seven generations ahead.

The Native Arts and Cultures Foundation advances equity and cultural knowledge, focusing on the power of arts and collaboration to strengthen Native communities and promote positive social change with American Indian, Native Hawaiian, and Alaska Native peoples in the United States.“K

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

BACKGROUND

In 2007, a study conducted by the Ford Foundation demonstrated a deep need for a national resource to support Native arts and cultures in the US. After a preliminary feasibility study, the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation (NACF) was launched in 2009 to recognize Native creativity, heal the damage of history, and support cultural continuity for generations of Native artists and culture bearers.

Since its first year of programming, NACF has made significant strides in fulfilling its mission. NACF has nurtured Native artist success by offering support to individual artists, arts organizations, and communities. By conducting convenings, and providing support to the field, NACF has strengthened artist reach, cultural knowledge, and arts leadership capacity. Through community-based awards, artists, organizations, and projects advance Native arts practice and mentorship efforts, and work more effectively in their communities.

OUR JOURNEY

In March 2019, NACF began planning, thoughtful discussion and reflection at a board retreat in Hood River, Oregon, along what is now called the Columbia River. This small town is part of the Columbia River Gorge that has provided a sea-level passage through the Cascades for thousands of years. It was also of particular significance as many Pacific Northwest Tribes’ life-ways depend on the Columbia River and the area surrounding it.1

Our experience along the river was especially moving as we planned to engage in a strategic planning process to inform the next five-years of NACF’s work. We named our planning process Wakanim Journey (pronounced Waa-kaa-neem). Wakanim means canoes in Chinuk Wawa.2 The relevance and vitality of this word honors the mighty river and the ancestors of the Columbia River region. It truly reflects the journey that NACF embarked on through research, gathering information and having conversations with people

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

much like Native peoples in canoes would do in times past, traveling on waterways and stopping to exchange information and trade goods.

PURPOSE AND ROLE FOR NACF

Research indicates that current funding and understanding of Native artists, organizations, and communities is insufficient to support Native arts and cultures, cater to the urgency of cultural revitalization, and address social justice and equity needs. Foundations often assume that all Native Americans live in remote rural areas, associating urban settings with Black and Latinx communities and rendering urban Native communities invisible. Additionally, Native-led nonprofit organizations only receive 0.23% of philanthropic awards, even though Native Americans represent 2% of the national population.3 In the past ten years, we have found that Native artists and organizations in urban communities and rural reservations are doing profound work to strengthen Native communities, change misconceptions about Indigenous peoples and Native art, and ensure the continuity of culture. However, they continue to need more support systems, more recognition, and visibility. There is an urgent need to advance artists working with communities and multi-sector partners to address racial justice and affect social change.

As part of the Wakanim Strategic Plan process, NACF conducted an internal data review looking carefully at a subset of 120 final awardee reports. We also surveyed 252 artists and organizations supported between 2009 and 2019. We learned that the overwhelming majority of awardees were responding to the following: social, political, environmental, spiritual, economic, and food justice issues through a Native lens, drawing increased attention to Native communities, perspectives, and challenges, shifting a national narrative of invisibility, misunderstanding, and misappropriation. In 2015 – 2017, NACF conducted a pilot program called the Community Inspiration Program (CIP) to learn more about artists and communities that are working together to affect social change. Four multi-year projects received awards, and NACF conducted an extensive evaluation of the program.

Based on the existing research described above, the feedback provided by our survey respondents, and conversations with stakeholders, NACF has defined one overall focus area: Catalyze Native peoples, artists and cultures bearers to influence positive social, cultural, and environmental change. We have devised four priorities that will guide our future work to assist Native artists, cultural leaders, and partners. Our primary focus is to act as a catalyst for positive social change, education in philanthropy and the public, and to convene and converge Native artists.

The NACF Mission statement was updated to reflect the next phase of our work.

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STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS

PHASE I

Discovery Phase March to July 2019

• Process Launch and Initial Work Plan Developed

• Meaning Making and Planning of Related to Data Compilation and Artists and Organizations Survey

• Initial Draft of Strategic Framework and Priorities

• Planning for NACF’s 10-year Anniversary Celebration

PHASE II

Iteration PhaseJuly - October 2019

• Internal Data Review

• Artist and Organizations Surveys Deployed

• Iteration of Strategic Framework and Priorities

• NACF 10-year anniversary celebration and activities at SWAIA

PHASE III

Agreement PhaseOct - Dec 2019

• Artist and Organizations surveys completed and data reviewed and analyzed by consultants

• Final Draft of Strategic Framework and Priorities completed and approved by Board

PHASE IV

Implementation PhaseJanuary - June 2020

• Finalize Program Reorientation

• Generate first draft of Strategic Plan

• Present first draft at March board meeting

• Finalize Strategic Plan

WAKANIM JOURNEY

MARCH 2019 JUNE 2020

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FOCUS

2021 - 2025

Catalyze Native peoples, artists and cultures bearers to influence positive social, cultural, and environmental changeThere are calls from all corners for more direct action in the current national and international political climate. This urgency has been expressed across sectors, addressing the pressing issues that affect the lives of many Native peoples in their homelands and as global citizens. The time has come for the more significant mobilization of Native artistic voices and creative minds to contribute to deliberation and problem solving around these challenges.

Many Native peoples must contend with stereotypes and romanticized perceptions from the public about our histories, our contemporary lives, and what Native art and cultures are. We’ve addressed these notions for decades. Research conducted for Reclaiming Native Truth: A Project to Dispel America’s Myths and Misconceptions found that most people willingly accept negative narratives about Native Americans, which are pervasive and widely accepted by the public, including mainstream media.

We believe that NACF can collectively help shift the prevalent narrative by presenting more accurate and realistic information about Native peoples to philanthropy, stakeholders, and the general public. To achieve this end, NACF has formulated priorities to advance artists social change work; Increase the visibility and creative power of Native artists; Educate the public and partner across sectors; Convene stakeholders; Create a thriving center for Native arts and cultures.

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PRIORITIES

Catalyze Native peoples,

artists and cultures bearers to influence positive

social, cultural, and environmental

change

INCREASE ARTIST VISIBILITY, REACH AND ACCESS

EDUCATE PHILANTHROPY, STAKEHOLDERS &THE PUBLIC ABOUT NATIVE PEOPLES, CULTURES, AND ARTS

MAKE THE CENTER FOR NATIVE ARTS & CULTURES (CNAC) A

THRIVING PLACE FORPROGRAMS &

PARTNERSHIPS

DEVELOP AND ADVANCE

ARTIST SOCIAL CHANGE WORK

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PRIORITY 1

DEVELOP AND ADVANCE ARTIST SOCIAL CHANGE WORK

Native artists and cultures bearers bring a unique perspective to their contemporary work, embedded in their communities, language, and cultural practices and experiences. Many have addressed issues in their work related to the land, the environment, racial and cultural equity. They need support to enable them to successfully influence positive change in their communities and with their constituencies. NACF will assist artists, cultures bearers, and partners in project planning, implementation, and capacity building through:

1.a - Project Curation

Select multi-year work that address social issues affecting Native communities through an open call process. Work will focus on:

• Environment (land stewardship, protection of habitat, sacred sites, climate change)

• Revitalization and/or protection of culture (food-ways, language, traditional arts/cultural practices, Native worldviews)

• Racial justice, decolonizing practices and cultural equity to change the extensive misunderstanding and perception of Native peoples

1.b - Capacity Building

Several focused trainings will be provided including:• Project management tools and training• A culturally appropriate evaluation model• Access to networks that connect artists

to other sectors, including environmental organizations, arts and education institutions, and racial justice and equity groups

• Technology and communications training

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INCREASE ARTIST VISIBILITY, REACH AND ACCESS

In a survey conducted with past NACF awardees, most respondents indicated that NACF could better support them by assisting with communications, promotion, and exhibiting and presenting their work. They also said that the increased visibility they achieved by being NACF award recipients had leveraged many subsequent opportunities. In addition to the support described in PRIORITY 1.a. and 1.b., Native artists and communities will be assisted by NACF to increase their in-person and virtual visibility, reach, and access through:

PRIORITY 2

2.a - Storytelling, Convening and Presentation Platforms

Increase capacity for storytelling, convening and presentations using advanced tech-based platforms.

• Digital media including NACF eNews, social media channels, and video

• Virtual technology including podcasts, webinars, and conference software

• Identifying new technology and systems for promoting artists and strengthening the field

2.b - Diverse Artist Opportunities

Adaptive approaches that are responsive to artist and field needs outside of work in Priority 1.a and 1.b, particularly relating to artists whose arts practice is less than ten years old and communities needing help with:

• Artist travel and presentation at conferences or other events

• Cultural education and learning• Curation, performances and exhibits• Unexpected emergencies that affect the

arts and cultures field

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MAKE THE CENTER FOR NATIVE ARTS AND CULTURES (CNAC) A THRIVING PLACE FOR PROGRAMMATIC AND PARTNER WORK

The opportunity to develop the new Center for Native Arts and Cultures is unprecedented. CNAC, in partnership with broad stakeholders, will provide a critically needed environment to catalyze Native peoples, artists, and culture bearers to influence positive social, cultural, and environmental change. CNAC will be a thriving place for programmatic and community work both locally and nationally. Native peoples, artists, and culture bearers need and value a Native-owned, Native-led space that supports their work and provides a venue for Native voices. From opportunities to explore cultural practice to representing historical experience, to the exploration of contemporary social issues and advocacy, CNAC will:

PRIORITY 3

3.a - Expand Native Creative Expression

• Spaces for making art and practicing culture

• Places to present and exhibit artistic work• Areas for study, research, and creative

learning• Spaces for multi-media work

3.b - Engage Partnerships and Collaborations

• Social enterprise space at affordable rates• Multi-purpose meeting rooms for tribes,

nonprofits, and artist groups• Areas for recovery, meditation, and

cultural celebration• Space for small business opportunities

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EDUCATE PHILANTHROPY, STAKEHOLDERS AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC ABOUT NATIVE PEOPLES, CULTURES, ARTS & HUMANITIES

One of NACF’s founding purposes is “to educate the American public regarding Native arts and cultures.” NACF will combine its knowledge and expertise in the field of Native arts and cultures with other existing resources and research to increase access and reach of this information by making it available in useful ways. In response to a legacy of harmful and inaccurate narratives by non-Native people, NACF will collaborate with partners to disseminate research and reports, arts-related studies, and participate in public forums that advance Native worldview, values, and knowledge. To present and promote Native generative narratives and increase educational efforts, NACF will:

PRIORITY 4

4.a - Compile Research and Gather Information

Review existing research in order to: • Conduct a study of Native arts and cultures that more broadly informs the field• Generate publications and materials to leverage social impact and learning• Co-produce and disseminate reports and findings that support the value of Native arts

and cultures to society

4.b - Organize Convenings

Conduct convenings to benefit the field and gather diverse stakeholders that focus on: • Native cultural approaches to learning that include elders, wisdom keepers, community

leaders, artists and culture bearers• Re-imagined approaches to address systemic racism, social change, and philanthropic

inequities through an arts lens• Innovative platforms for artistic learning and sharing

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Nearing its first 10-year cycle of programming, NACF had the opportunity to reflect upon its successes, assess the program’s alignment with overall organizational strategies, and consider programmatic reorientation. An analysis of NACF’s programs resulted, utilizing a survey to measure the impact of NACF awards on an artist’s practice, and their hopes for the future. We also conducted a thorough review of our final reports to measure the impact of awarded projects on the communities served. We reviewed over 120 final reports and received a 47% response rate from the survey.

The key findings from the survey and report reviews indicated that:

1. Nearly all of the artists have said NACF should prioritize its efforts addressing community issues and positive social change.

2. Artists and organizations surveyed reported the most pressing issues affecting Native communities are environmental degradation and the climate crisis, the preservation of Native culture, and perceptions of Native people:

• 73% of artists said environment (land stewardship, protection of habitat, sacred sites, climate change) were the most serious concerns facing communities today.

• 58% said the preservation, revitalization and/or protection of culture (food-ways, language, traditional arts/cultural practices). This was also top for Organizations.

3. NACF could better support artists and communities by providing assistance with communications, marketing & promotion, and exhibiting and presenting their work.

4. Artists are creatively addressing issues of great importance to local, national and global communities. They are responding to social, political, spiritual, environmental, economic and food justice issues through a Native lens, drawing increased attention to Native communities, perspectives and challenges, shifting a national narrative of invisibility, misunderstanding and misappropriation.

EVALUATION

“As artists we are supposed to go to the places people cannot go and bring it to them to create an ethical consciousness.”

~ Cristóbal Martínez (Chicanx) member of Postcommodity

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EVALUATION

5. The awards were invaluable for artists to envision, develop, create exciting new work and engage communities.

6. The awards have a significant impact in leveraging further support.

7. Artists are partnering with a wide range of communities and organizations.

In 2015-17 NACF evaluated its pilot Community Inspiration Program (CIP). The CIP awarded large scale artist-driven projects that engaged communities in issues that affect the lives of Native peoples, often at the forefront of social justice conversations and movements. Topics ranged from the urgent need to address race relations, the historical and contemporary misrepresentation, and mistreatment of Indigenous people, tribal and cultural sovereignty amidst systemic oppression, and the exploitation of the earth resulting in the immediacy of climate change.

Impact evaluation of the CIP considered and collected both usual and nontraditional “measures” of social change, queries and observation (as defined by the Evaluation Learning Lab, a collaborative effort of Americans for the Arts’ Animating Democracy initiative, the Arts x Culture x Social Justice Network), and relied on the guidance of Indigenous research strategies. The process also embraced an Indigenous framework built around storytelling, observational exercises, and community engagement.

As an example, the CIP project Repellent Fence—an Indigenous artist Collective Post Commodity—created a temporary two-mile installation crossing the border between the US and Mexico in the cities of Douglas, AZ, and Agua Prieta, Mexico. Postcommodity aimed to create a bi-national dialogue by building a deeper understanding of the border and its connectivity rather than a reductive understanding of border issues. Repellent Fence was a land art installation, but it was also a social collaboration involving individuals, communities, businesses, institutional organizations, public, and

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EVALUATION

sovereigns. Our evaluation of the impact of Repellent Fence indicated that:

• Conversations started by Postcommodity among artist-advocates engaged in challenging border political-economics continued even after the installation was removed.

• The installation revitalized a conversation between Agua Prieta and Douglas municipal authorities about their MOU for bi-national cooperation.

• The risk of the entire project amplified these results. The sheer audacity of a two-mile-long land art installation across the US-Mexico border drew people in, made them look, and made them think about the arbitrary nature of geopolitically imposed boundaries.

These findings combined with the more recent data we collected and analyzed during our Wakanim Strategic Plan process have provided an essential platform for envisioning and planning for future

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programming. Key to NACF’s mission is to elevate the voice and visibility of Native artists. We have awarded 504 grants to artists and organizations across the nations which has impacted the broader Native arts and cultures field.

Based on survey results indicating concern for environmental and sovereignty issues, we must continue to elevate the voices of Native artists and culture bearers and look for ways to build strong cooperative relationships with community and institutional partners to help augment change and success. We are looking to position NACF as a catalyzing support organization to activate artists, communities, and appropriate sector partners as agents for change in their work. Artists, cultural leaders, and the community have asked for this kind of support, and NACF intends to provide them with the tools and resources needed to succeed.

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GEOGRAPHIC REACH

Numbers represent total awards (504) granted by NACF as of June 30, 2020.

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1. Native communities, artists and cultures bearers collaborate with society at large to effect positive cultural, social, and environmental change and bring forth their understandings of a relational worldview.

2. Indigenous Artists’ creativity and capacities are advanced to increase their success on collaborations with communities relative to matters they collectively care about.

3. The Center for Native Arts and Cultures is established with vibrant programming and public engagement.

4. Funding is increased from diverse sources for Native communities, artists and culture bearers.

5. Indigenous cultural knowledge is enhanced to strengthen Native communities and create new paths for positive, impactful change.

6. Cultural competency of NACF stakeholders, constituents and patrons is strengthened as it pertains to Native peoples, arts and cultures.

OUTCOMES

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“We’ve come to a point in the world of great challenge, but also great opportunity, in which to revise and revitalize our communities. How do we do that? It always comes back to the arts, because arts revitalize, they tell us who we are, they tell us where we’re going and where we’ve been. Art makes connections on a deep soul level; it connects us in a way beyond words.”

~ Joy Harjo (Mvskoke) U.S. Poet Laureate and NACF Board Chair

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Center for Native Arts and Cultures: NACF owns a 40,000 square foot building in central Portland, Oregon, that has a 10-plus-year history as an art space facilitating exhibitions, events, and maker spaces.

Artist network: NACF has established a network of 312 Native artists and organizations from across the nation whose work is centered in traditional art, visual art, performance, dance, music, film, or literature.

Collaborator network: Over the last 10 years NACF has been fortunate to collaborate with a wide variety of arts and non-arts organizations across the nation, ranging from tribal to educational to arts to presenting to exhibiting organizations. We have also developed strong relationships with funders, donors, as well as local and federal government agencies.

Endowment: NACF has a $4 million endowment.

EXISTING

BOARD OF DIRECTORS: NACF’s Board is comprised of 12 individuals with an average tenure of 6-9 years who bring diverse leadership and governance skills to NACF. Also, we have 12 former board members, many of whom continue to engage with the organization and promote our mission.

STAFF: NACF currently employs 9 full-time and 1 part-time staff with an average tenure of 4.5 years who bring a range of experience and talents to NACF.

KNOWLEDGE & EXPERTISE: Over the past 10 years NACF has accrued expertise and developed and refined systems that have allowed us to implement and manage successful programming, convenings and trainings. We have also created culturally appropriate/relevant evaluation processes and curriculum utilized in successful artist trainings.

NEEDED

BOARD DEVELOPMENT: As we roll out our strategic plan and work in the new building (CNAC), we will need to recruit new board members to bring additional skill sets and experience to NACF.

STAFF RECRUITMENT: To fulfill our strategic vision and evolution of NACF work, we will need to recruit the following staff:• Vice President of Programs• Program support staff• Communications technology staff• Senior development staff

FUNDING: To support our strategic vision and evolution of NACF work, we will need to raise the following funds:• Increase annual operating grants and donations by $1.5

million• Raise capital campaign contributions for the Center for

Native Arts and Cultures.

TECHNOLOGY & COMMUNICATIONS: Source and implement leading-edge communications technology and increase our Communications’ breadth and reach.

ASSETS & RESOURCES

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LEADERSHIP

NACF Board of Directors

Joy Harjo (Chair) Mvskoke U.S. Poet Laureate, Author, Musician

Valorie Johnson (Vice-Chair) Seneca-Cayuga-Eastern Cherokee Consultant and former Program Officer, W.K. Kellogg Foundation

Raymond Foxworth (Treasurer) Navajo Nation Vice President – Grantmaking, Development & Communications, First Nations Development Institute

Adrian Wall (Secretary) Jemez Pueblo Sculptor and Musician

Amy Hanaili’i Gilliom, Native Hawaiian/Ojibwe Singer and Songwriter

Kamani Kuala’au Native Hawaiian Senior Vice President, Atalanta Sosnoff Capital

Elise Paschen Osage Nation Poet, editor, professor, and co-founder of Poetry in Motion

Jaime Pinkham, Nez Perce Executive Director, Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission

Camilla Rockefeller Chair, David Rockefeller Fund

Rob Sassor Vice President, Metropolitan Group

Nadia Sethi, Ninilchik Tribe-Alutiiq Program Director and Art Historian, The CIRI Foundation

S. R. Tommie, Seminole Tribe of Florida Founder and President, Redline Media Group

National Leadership Council

Mona Abadir, Council Chair Chief Executive Officer, Engaging the Senses FoundationJohn Haworth Cherokee Senior Executive Emeritus, Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian-NYHeather B. Henson Founder and Creative Director, IBEX Puppetry and Director, The Jim Henson LegacyElizabeth Theobold Richards Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma Director Creative Strategies, The Opportunity AgendaBuffy Sainte-Marie Cree Musician, Artist, EducatorDenise Turner Walsh Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians Attorney General, Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians

ORGANIZATION

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GLOSSARY

Chinuk Wawa: is a language used in Oregon and Southwest Washington from the mouth of the Columbia River to The Dalles, Oregon. Over time it evolved into a Creole or Pidgin language that became the first language of a community—although it was never the only first language of a community as most communities and speakers were at least bilingual. Chinuk Wawa is composed primarily of 4 languages and words from many other languages: 55% Old Chinook, 7% Nuu-chaa-nulth, 10% English, 10% French and 18% Other.

CNAC: The Center for Native Arts and Cultures be housed in the historic Yale Union Laundry Building in urban southeast Portland, Oregon. The building ownership was transferred from the arts organization Yale Union to NACF in a historic and unprecedented rematriation of land to a Native organization.

Community Inspiration Programs (CIP): Community Inspiration Program (CIP) projects were artist-driven projects supported by and created in partnership with the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation. They connected Native and non-Native people in community conversations that addressed pressing social, cultural, and environmental concerns to create positive change. NACF enabled artists and communities to inspire shared hopes and arts-based experiences to drive vital conversations through the CIP. Additionally, NACF also assisted the CIP artists in strategic planning, which included evaluation and documentation systems development, and provided support in engaging participants to reach relevant outcomes.

Cultural Equity: Cultural equity embodies the values, policies, and practices that ensure that all people—including but not limited to those who have been historically underrepresented based on race/ethnicity, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, socioeconomic status, geography, citizenship status, or religion—are represented in the development of arts policy; the support of artists; the nurturing of accessible, thriving venues for expression; and the fair distribution of programmatic, financial, and informational resources.4

Decolonizing Practices: Indigenous voices and knowledge are at the center of decolonizing practices. They examine the underlying assumptions that inform widely accepted practices predicated on Western methods and ways of knowing and replace them with Native approaches and methodologies.

Doctrine of Discovery: The Discovery Doctrine is a construct of public international law expounded by the United States Supreme Court in a series of decisions, initially in Johnson v. M’Intosh in 1823. Based on a series of 15th century Papal Bulls that gave Christian explorers the right to claim title to the lands they “discovered” and lay claim to those lands for their Christian Monarchs. Any land that was not inhabited by Christians was available to be “discovered” or claimed, resulting in the exploitation and deaths of many Indigenous peoples.5

Native vs. Indigenous: NACF uses these words interchangeably to describe peoples who were the original first inhabitants of what is now known as the United States of America, including Hawai`i and Alaska.

Racial Equity: The condition where race identity does not influence how one fares in society. Race equity is one part of racial justice that needs addressing at the root causes and not just the manifestations. An example of this is eliminating policies, practices, attitudes, and cultural messages that reinforce differential outcomes by race.6

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GLOSSARY

Relational Worldview: The relational worldview, sometimes called the cyclical worldview, finds its roots in tribal cultures. It is intuitive, non-time oriented and fluid. The balance and harmony in relationships between multiple variables, including spiritual forces, make up the core of the thought system. For example, every event is understood in relation to all other events regardless of time, space, or physical existence, and health only exists only when things are in balance or harmony. The relational worldview stands in juxtaposition to the linear worldview, rooted in Western European and American thought, which is logical, time oriented, and systematic, having at its core the cause-and-effect relationship.7

Rematriation: The Indigenous concept of Rematriation refers to reclaiming of ancestral remains, spirituality, culture, knowledge and resources, instead of the more Patriarchal associated Repatriation. It simply means back to Mother Earth, a return to our origins, to life and co-creation, rather than Patriarchal destruction and colonization, a reclamation of germination of the life giving force of the Divine Feminine.

Social Change: Social change is both the process and effect of efforts to alter societal conditions positively. It encompasses a range of outcomes—healing, increased awareness, attitudinal change, more diverse and increased civic participation, movement building, and policy change to name a few.

Sovereignty: Tribal Sovereignty refers to the legal recognition in U.S. law that Indigenous tribes have an inherent right to govern themselves. The law applied to American Indians by the U.S. government is called Federal Indian Law. Although undermined by various Acts, legal decisions, and policies, it still stands to this day. Tribal reservations and Native Nations are “nations within” the U.S., each with their own government and sovereign powers to make laws, tax, many operate a tribal justice system, also based upon their inherent powers. Indigenous Sovereignty is distinguishable from Tribal Sovereignty in that it is not a Tribal nation-state’s Sovereignty under nation-state dominion. Instead, it comes from Indigenous Traditional Knowledge, belonging to each Indigenous nation, tribe, first nation, community. It consists of spiritual ways, culture, language, social and legal systems, political structures, and inherent relationships with lands and waters. Indigenous Sovereignty exists regardless of what the nation-state does or does not do. It continues as long as the People that are a part of it continue.8

Traditional v. Non-Traditional Evaluation Measures: Traditional evaluation measures are predicated on Euro-Western approaches of evaluating based on quantitative outcome measures connected to a specific project. Non-traditional evaluation measures include a more qualitative approach that—as it relates to arts projects for example—considers aesthetic quality impacts (as defined by Animating Democracy’s Evaluation Learning Lab).9 Specifically, as pertains to NACF, as a Native-led and Native focused organization, non-traditional evaluation measures rely on Indigenous research methodologies designed to contribute to self-determination and ensure recognition of Indigenous knowledge and worldviews.

Wakanim: ‘Canoes’ in Chinuk Wawa.

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1 (PG 3) - Pacific NW Tribes from the Columbia River Gorge area include: Chinook Indian Nation, Confederated Tribes of Grande Ronde, Cowlitz Indian Tribe, Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR), Yakama Nation, The Wanapum and the Nez Perce Tribe.

2 (PG 3) - “Chinuk Wawa.” Languages, Literature and Communication Division (LLC) | Lane Community College, www.lanecc.edu/llc/language/chinuk-wawa. Date accessed, September 18, 2020.

3 (PG 4) - “We Need To Change How We Think, Perspectives on Philanthropy’s Underfunding of Native Communities and Causes.” First Nations Development Institute, Frontline Solutions, July 2018.

4 (PG 19) - “Frequently Asked Questions - Cultural Equity.” Americans for the Arts, www.americansforthearts.org/about-americans-for-the-arts/statement-on-cultural-equity/faq. Date accessed, September 3, 2020.

5 (PG 19) - Oren Lyons: Doctrine of Discovery, ratical.org/many_worlds/6Nations/DoctrineOfDiscovery.html. Date accessed, September 16, 2020.

6 (PG 19) - “Who We Are.” Equity in the Center, www.equityinthecenter.org/who-we-are/. Date Accessed September 24, 2020.

7 (PG 20) - Cross, Terry. Suicide Prevention Resource Center, www.sprc.org/sites/default/files/resource-program/Relational-Worldview-Model.pdf.

8 (PG 20) - “What Is: Indigenous Sovereignty and Tribal Sovereignty.” Indigenous Environmental Network, www.ienearth.org/what-is-indigenous-sovereignty-and-tribal-sovereignty/. Date accessed, September 16, 2020.

9 (PG 20) - “The Evaluation Learning Lab.” The Evaluation Learning Lab | Animating Democracy, animatingdemocracy.org/evaluation-learning-lab. Date accessed, September 18, 2020

APPENDIX

NACF STAFF:

T. Lulani Arquette Native Hawaiian - President/CEONicole Charley Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs - Executive Assistant and Board Liaison

Rupert Ayton - Vice President, Senior Advisor

Gabriella Tagliacozzo - Director of Operations Barbara Soulé Diné [Navajo Nation] - Communications Specialist

Reuben Tomás Roqueñi Yaqui/Mayo/Chicanx Descent - Director of National Artist Fellowships

Leah Altman Oglala Lakota/Persian - Development ManagerAnnie Silver - Fundraising Systems Coordinator

Laura Cales Chickasaw Nation - Program Coordinator

Beth Moore - Director of Finance

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National Headquarters Office400 E. Evergreen Blvd., Suite 102

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Phone: 360-334-7266

nativeartsandcultures.org